If Nothing Else…

I’m really good at employing unusual methods to accomplish the task at hand…

But first I want to thank Robynn from over at Robynn’s Ravings for letting you all know that I’ve been socked in with big thunderstorms that came through. I’ll be sure and return the favor some day… 

This was on the front porch lookin’ out toward the gate yesterday morning during a break in the downpours.

I swam out waded out to the gate to take pictures just for you all.  The dogs looked at me like, “You are nuts!”.

This rain was what we around here call “a chunk floater”.  This chunk is about 14 inches long and 1 1/2 inches in diameter.

This was looking out the bathroom window over part of the backyard to the propane tank.

And north towards the little barn and the goat shed.

And looking south down our country road.When Bro and I got back yesterday evening about 6 p.m. I remembered to check the rain gauge. 

We had almost 4 inches at that time.  The rumbling, grumbling thunder started up again about 7 p.m. and started pouring down again.  Until after 11 p.m.

When I got up this morning it wasn’t raining, but grey and heavy clouds.  I hustled around and loaded up my pickup again and I hossed the washer and dryer that we had in one of the little barns onto the trailer and Bro and I headed to town and got that load off.  When we got back to the plantation I remembered to check the rain gauge.

Let’s look at it from another angle…

Yep, that gauge is lipping full.  Almost 51/2 inches in the last 24 hours. So now you know why I couldn’t even catch one second, much less one minute of internet time.

The falling on the knee again?  About 10:30 p.m. Carol said did you hear the weatherman saying we could get to 35 F. tonite?  Nope, didn’t hear it…  Well, says she, you’d better get the plants in off the porch… So I told Bro if you will stand at the door I’ll hand them in to you and we both won’t have to get wet.  So I would step out on the deck, grab a plant or two, pour the excess water off them and stepped in and handed them to Bro, turned and went back out and grabbed more and repeated the process. Some of our plants are large and heavy and I  was tiring out and trying to hurry because I was getting wet. I stepped out, barefoot, and hit wet deck just right, did a whoopti – into a single legged split… bunged my big toe, knocked of my rhinestone off my toe nail  and then landed on THE knee… but I didn’t hit nearly as hard as last time and my toe is sorer than my knee… Thank goodness. So you don’t need to worry about any bones.

And the reference to my Ethiopian Ingenuity… Found this photo while looking for THERE photos --- Yep, that’s a bungee strap.  I was running errands and got tired of hikin’ my drawers up and all I had in my pick up was a bungee cord.  It worked.

Need I say more?

I’ll get back to Bartlesville (THERE) on the next post.

Ring Of ‘Rooms…

We’ve had a buttload  quite a bit of rain. Probably about 6.5 inches in the last week.  I went outside yesterday to take a look around and get me and the pupsters  off the couch.  I saw something out in the south part of the plantation and went to investigate… (Cue eerie music)

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A ring of mushrooms…

What was odd to me was how they were growing in a big ring…  Is this the redneck version of Stonehenge?

And on top of that mystery… WORM HOLES…

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All over the place.  Carol’s sister is not quite bright on things that are not logical. She came into the living room and asked if we’d seen all those little brown mounds all over and wondering what made them… I looked her straight in the eye and told her they are wormholes…  Really?  Yep… when we get a chunk floater  the worms dig up to the surface so they won’t drown underground… If it’s a toad strangler they have to learn to swim.

I think she thinks I make this shit stuff up but with Carol sitting there and not saying, “Oh, Helen!!!” she realizes that I’m telling the truth…  at least about this.

My Favorite Bloomer

Indoors, that is.  I’m not sure why it is so special.  It could be because I raised it from a pup but more likely it’s because it’s blooms are so weird.  You know I like weird.

This is my baby. I don’t know what it is called other than a rope plant.  A start was given to me by a friend in Tulsa at least 5 or 6 years ago.  I’ve babied it along and it’s now got vines over two feet long.  This is not the first time it’s bloomed, just the first time since we’ve been here so I grabbed some photos because it’s interesting.

The budlets pop out of an odd looking little nub thingy about the size of a pencil eraser.

Then they start spraying outward like the fireworks on 4th of July.

Then they start getting puffed up and richer in color

and they pop open to these gorgeous little flowers.

Their petals are thick like succulent plants and it is the oddest little flower but I just love it and wanted to share it with you all.

It’s been storming here today so I don’t know when I will get this posted, but I’m ready with a new post when it clears up.

I hope you all are having a good day.

The Bee’s Knees… Not!

I’m taking a break from the ice packs. I have laid around so much today that I’m tired of laying around.  I did spend time visiting on the phone this afternoon, cutting up and laughing and just visiting with a dear blogging friend.  She said I had better post pics of my knee after I told her it was looking better.  I don’t think she believed me…

If you hadn’t read my posts for very long or don’t remember,  I hate ice.  Let me clarify… I love ice in my tea or in my soda.  I hate ice on my body.  Generally I think it makes things hurt more than it helps.  However, in this case I have to say that I have been faithful to putting ice packs on my knee and it is helping.  My knee is achy, but it does not hurt to walk on my leg, carefully.  The swelling is dispersing around and not so defined and tight.  If I can force myself to stay off my feet and ice for another 24 hours and it keeps going like it has, then I’m not going to worry about getting it checked out by a doc. 

‘Scuse the wrinkled knees… It comes with the territory of aging.  My laugh wrinkles are worse.  Anyway you can see the swelling is going across the front and other side of my knee.

From another angle. I’m going to have a very colorful knee for a while.

We had a rainstorm blow through while I was in the bed with my leg propped up.  It had quit by the time I took my ice pack break and the sunshine had come out in all it’s glory so I thought I’d take my knee pictures outside.

Do I need to tell you that it is now very humid?

  I think I’d rather just say that these photos caught the angels working on my oweee.

The Thunder Rolls…

And the lightning strikes…(love Garth Brooks)

And where do the schnauzers go?

Up on the foot of Carol’s chair.

  Chloe is plastered against her leg.  If the storm gets real loud, like hail on the roof, she starts trembling like a leaf.  We found that if we cover her up with a blankie she settles down quicker.

SueSue, if it gets loud, gets down and looks at me and says “Are you going to go to bed now so I can cuddle? I’m too scared!” And you know what I do… take the computer to the bed and cuddle her.

Pretty soon Chloe gets down from Carol’s footrest and comes and jumps in the bed and I’m a schnauzer sandwich…

God, I love these pups.

Thanks, Nola...

She heard me, all the way from Tasmania, pissing and moaning about all the rain...

This blogging friend that I affectionately call my Tasmaniac... One of the funniest women I read... who doesn't even realize how funny she is...

She, once again, brought a bright spot into my gray cloudy day with this picture in an e-mail.

You all need to go check Nola out if you don't already know her. I promise she's worth the trip.

Thank you, Nola, my gorgeous hornbag Tassie friend.

Thirteen Out Of Fourteen Days...

That's how many days we have had enough rain to measure in central Oklahoma. The weather man announced this little fact on the weather report this evening. I could have told him this fact... without all the expensive equipment they use to measure and track weather.

Step out my front door. If you see something like this it means it has rained. Whether it is a toad strangler (a whole bunch), a chunk floater (a modicum amount) or just a trace of rain, most of us can tell when it rains simply by looking out the front door.


We, as I've told you all, had a toad strangler on at least three days this past week. On Wednesday, my Bro Walter, drove me to Ft. Worth to get my new glasses. Five miles after we go on I-35, the tire on the driver's side rear blew out or blew up. Whichever you want to call it. This is what I saw when Bro got the car to the side of the road. Yes, it was a Firestone tire. With a 60,000 mile guarantee. With less than 20,000 miles on it. This will be addressed at the dealer next week.

But that isn't the point of this story.


This is...

If you live in the red dirt swamp and you've been gone all day the pups run out through the swamp to greet you and this happens.

Yes, those were black jeans and a coral golf shirt. Were is the operative word...

I love my babies and I, too, get excited when I see them and I sort of expect this welcome.









And another photo.

My darling and wonderful fur babies.


However....













When I went into my bedroom and was putting up some laundry that I had dried after the trip and while my back was turned...

I heard snorking.

Snorking is what I call it when the dogs roll and fuss around on the floor, out in the yard or on my bed... that I hadn't spread up... that the white sheets are on...







Click on the photos and you can really get a look at what an exuberant schnauzer snorking session looks like when accentuated with red wet fur. I just said, "Shit, Suess!". I knew it had to be SueSue.

She is infamous for snorking all over the bed. I normally spread up my bed, especially when it's been raining, because the dogs do get their feet wet and they do get on my bed.




The dark blue blanket has a couple of rips in it and I use it specifically because of the girls. But in my hurry to head south I hadn't made up the bed.

And, yes, that is my SueSue, looking all innocent.














"I don't know what your talking about mom."

Yep, check out the red fur.






"She knows exactly what you are talking about, mom."

Yep, that's my sweet Chloe. I don't know how she does it, but she can go out in this swamp and hardly even get her tootsies wet. And she will rat out the baby anytime it suits her fancy.

And according to the weatherman we are supposed to get more rain tonight and tomorrow, Mother's Day.

And you can bet I'll have on my working jeans and the bed will be made so I'll be prepared for any more gifts my girls give to me, for Mother's Day or any other time.

When I Said We Were Getting Rain...

I wasn't kidding. This photo shows what I have awakened to at least three mornings in the last week. Our ground in the garden is soooo wet that I haven't been able to get out and weed. And actually, I miss doing it. Getting my hands in the dirt is so soothing to me when I'm stressed or blue or just tired of feeling lousy and tired.

When I went out to the garden today I was able to do a little bit of weeding, but mostly I sank up to my ankles and decided that I was pushing it. We have had sunshine today for most of the afternoon and I should be able to go out tomorrow and play in the dirt without it being all mud.
That being said and my excuses being put out there... here are some photos of my garden, as it is now, grass, weeds and all, what there is of it that I could photos of without getting stuck in the mud.

To the left... cabbage and grass.








Here we have onions and grass...












Potatoes and grass...












Onions, garlic and grass... oh, and two hoses that I haven't had to use in two weeks, except to wash the mud off my feet and/or sandals from when I tried to get out in the garden to pull up weeds and grass.








Tomatoes (in the four cages), onions and one damn weed. I went in today, very carefully, to check out the ground and as I was walking to go back out I decided that I had to pull that one damn weed. I took one step, very carefully, it was okay. I took another... and sank up above my ankle. I said a few choice words and went in and got that weed anyhow. I figured since I was going to have to hose myself off that weed was coming out.




These weeds get to live until tomorrow.

Hope all of you that needed rain have gotten it and I hope that all of us that have gotten it get one more day of sunshine so we can clean out some of the weeds.

It's supposed to rain here again Saturday night and Sunday.

But on a good note... Dar, I haven't seen your 'gator around here... yet.

It's Raining, It's Pouring...

I've got the internet, for a moment... It has been raining for several days, off and on, though more on than off. I decided that if God ever decided to do another great flood to clean up our world, all He has to do is have it rain for a week or two and all the septic tanks and sewers back up and the smell kills you.

We have company that has been staying here with us for the last ten days and our septic got clogged up. On Saturday. Monday, bright and early, the plumber came out (he just lives down the road apiece from us) and he got the line unclogged. He went out to check the septic and said that as soon as the lines in the house drained out, the septic tank filled up to almost lippin' full because our ground is saturated and there not much drainage to be had.

So I loaded up Carol's clothes and my clothes and toted them to town and used a friend's washer to try to keep as little water running through our pipes as possible. Then I brought them back home and used our dryer to dry them. I can promise you that I had flashbacks to the days of going to the laundromats and it was not pleasant. How quickly we can forget to be thankful for little things like being able to do laundry at home...

Anyway... I do have a bunch of photos that I've been taking and as soon as I can get them to upload, I'll be sharing them with you. Right now Blogger is not answering the call on the internet to get them, so I don't even know if this will make it out to you all. In the meantime, I'll be checking my feet for webbing that might be growing between my toes, and practicing my backstroke motions, just in case.

I'll be back as soon as weather allows. Y'all try to stay dry.

Rain...

I like the rain. It's very calming and I sleep very well with the rain coming down steadily, gently. There's a couple of things that are not wonderful with the rain, though. When it starts to rain, we lose our satellite internet. We are far enough out in the country that we have no cable, so we have to depend on satellites for our television and our internet, and our television satellite is just that, television. So we have to have another company for our internet. Fortunately the tv doesn't go out quite as easily, but we have had some pretty bad storms come through that have knocked out the tv satellite as well, which makes you a bit nervous when you live in the Oklahoma, in tornado alley, in a mobile home, but that's another story. The other thing bad about a rain front is that it makes me hurt. I've noticed the last several years that when the barometer changes my fibromyalgia kicks up and I just hurt. So I usually end up back in bed with my two living hot water bottles cuddled up to me. Not that I mind a nap, but I just get tired of being tired and hurting sometimes. Then it quits raining and I go out and walk around the yard and take photos like these:





I am blessed in soooo many ways...